Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Glendale, AZ, February 9, 2010 – HomeLovers, one of Arizona's fastest growing Arizona real estate investing and property management companies, today announced availability of its 2010 State of the Industry Report for Arizona Real Estate Investing, which outlines recent trends and takes a look at what lies ahead in 2010 for investors. The report also discusses how the investor of today is different than the investor demographics that lead to the buying frenzy of 2005 and subsequent market crash. The free report is available for download via an automated email response at investorinfo@homelovers.com.

The HomeLovers 2010 State of the Industry Report indicates that by mid 2009, real estate trends in Metropolitan Phoenix showed a marked upswing as investors begin to show confidence in a market recovery. Report participant Michael Orr of The Cromford Report notes that pending home sales in ARMLS (the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service) were at a record level for January, indicating an increase in demand with a sales price increase likely to follow. He further noted that buying for the lowest price ranges is cooling off but that buying in the $250,000 - $400,000 range is beginning to increase and showed substantial activity in fourth quarter.

Key Findings in the report include:

• HomeLovers co-founders and Investing experts David Zundel and Michael Sargent expect a relatively flat market with a shallow upward trend, followed by a gradual return to historical appreciation rates through 2011 and 2012. While there may some swings in pricing, which is normal for a recovering market, there is unlikely to be another major drop and recovery will offset the damage.

• With homes selling below construction costs, the coming recovery will bring highest returns to those who bought at the bottom of the market.

• Investors should plan on holding property for a minimum of three-to-five years to leverage improving prices as the market recovers.

• Short sale transactions are likely to increase over REOs, as banks realize they reduce the loss to the lender. Until the inventory of REO and short sale homes drop to a "normal" level, prices will be held artificially low; however, this investor windfall will fade as the surplus inventory is absorbed.

• Cash buyers are likely to see the most success in purchasing short sale properties; investors relying on financing and minimal cash down are much less likely to close the sale.

• Zundel notes that over 80% of the investment properties brought to HomeLovers to manage are homes that they would never have recommended to buyers as a good investment. Investors are making purchases based on price, when there are many other factors that impact whether an investment property is profitable.

• Tenants are expecting a higher quality of rentals and investors are not doing enough to improve their properties. This has a significant impact on vacancy rates. Fresh paint and carpet cleaning is insufficient.

About HomeLoversEstablished in early 2008, HomeLovers is already one of Arizona's most rapidly growing home rental and property management companies. It was founded on the premise of creating a drastically improved property management agency model, including full disclosure of fees and anticipated costs in a market that is prone to "junk fees," unexpected costs and inexperienced agents that make it difficult to manage profitable real estate investment portfolios. Because of its focus on the development of proprietary tools that assist investors with avoiding purchasing mistakes, maximizing return on their investments and attracting ideal, long-term tenants, HomeLovers was one of the first property management agencies to offer access to real-time online accounting, documentation and reporting.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Investors typically head into Arizona real estate investing with one of two objectives for their portfolio - rapid cash flow on the property via rent collection, or making profit via long-term appreciation when they eventually sell the home.

But regardless of their goal and level of experience with investing, one thing remains true. There are certain mistakes that severely hamper an investors ability to make a profit on the property, regardless of their objective.

For example, the first property details why square footage makes a difference - not just in terms of the obvious - how much rent you can collect - but also the types of tenants it attracts, and how it fits into current Arizona market demand. The second property showcase will focus on the impact of location on appreciation, vacancies and more.

Please note that the AZ investment properties showcased are not purchased by the experts at HomeLovers. They are brought to us for property management after the purchase transaction. Many properties managed by HomeLovers are not properties we would have recommended for an investment portfolio.

If a property showcased is similar to an issue that YOU are struggling with for a property within your own investment portfolio, contact us for a free consultation on how we can get your investments back into the black.

Don't miss an article in the series - it might just save you thousands of dollars. Subscribe to the blog today for notifications of new postings.

Dave Zundel has been building businesses for over 20 years, including hands-on consulting work with the owners of nearly 200 companies.

Recently, his experience allowed him to redefine residential property management and implement new levels of efficiency for a local Phoenix real estate investment and property management company, resulting in aggressive growth from 300 homes under management to nearly 2000 homes - almost a 600% increase. With a focus on numbers, Dave created tools to assist investors with avoiding purchasing mistakes, maximizing ROI and attracting ideal tenants.

In the same time frame, Dave accumulated a personal portfolio worth over $3 million that included 15 single family homes.

At age 40, Dave retired from his position as CEO to focus on his personal real estate investments. After three years in retirement, Dave could no longer resist the lure of reentering the business world. In looking at all the different types of businesses he had worked with over the years, none had more appeal to him than property management. With the luxury of hindsight, Dave was able to reflect on things that had created challenges and unhappy clients. After nurturing the idea for several months and launching a joint partnership with Mike Sargent, a dramatically improved property management model evolved.

About Mike Sargent - co-founder, real estate investorMike Sargent has personally owned and managed more than 30 investment properties, both residential and commercial, and was recently instrumental in growing a local Phoenix real estate investment and property management company into the largest property management firm in Arizona. His leadership, investment and portfolio management experience allowed him to rapidly expand the number of homes under management to 2,000 homes during his tenure.

Prior to this, Mike spent 18 years as an executive at Inter-Tel, Inc., a major public telecommunications company; and Cirillium, Inc., a hi-tech Inter-Tel spinoff, both headquartered in the Phoenix area, where he was influential in launching VoIP (voice-over Internet Protocol) to major clients worldwide by leveraging his software design engineer background, financial acumen and boardroom experience.

He is an experienced international traveler who has visited more than 30 countries. Mike has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Systems Engineering from Arizona State University.

About HomeLovers

To take the model of a drastically improved property management firm from an idea to fruition, Dave Zundel and Mike Sargent partnered in early 2008 to build HomeLovers, an Arizona-based property management company that specializes in residential rental properties including purchasing and managing rental property to building and growing a robust, profitable investment portfolio.

Their combined experience has allowed them to avoid predictable problems, implement technology in revolutionary ways to improve customer service and improve efficiency and profitability.

HomeLovers is rapidly establishing itself as a customer service leader in property management and today is one of Arizona's most rapidly growing home rental and property management companies.

HomeLovers is one of few property management agencies that offers its owner/investor clients instant access to real-time online accounting, documents and reporting. Ask about it today at www.homelovers.com.